Actors
Rebecca Gibney: Rebecca Catherine Gibney (born 14 December 1964 in Levin, New Zealand) is a Gold Logie Award-winning Australian actress. Gibney has been married twice, firstly to Irwin Thomas (former lead singer of Southern Sons; aka Jack Jones) in 1992, which ended in divorce. She married production designer Richard Bell in November 2001 and gave birth to her first child, a son, Zachary Edison Bell, in early 2004. She currently resides in Launceston, Tasmania, Australia with her husband and son. Erik Thomson; Erik Thomson (born April 27, 1967 in Inverness, Scotland, United Kingdom) is a British-born New Zealand actor best known for his roles in the television series Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, Xena: Warrior Princess, Dr. Mitch Stevens in All Saints and Dave Rafter in Packed to the Rafters. He has also been a regular presenter on the travel show Getaway. Thomson had a number of New Zealand television roles, the most notable of which was as Hades in both the Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Xena: Warrior Princess series. In 1995 he moved to Australia and landed regular roles in Pacific Drive, All Saints and The Alice. He has had guest roles on such series as Wildside and Always Greener. Thomson is currently appearing as Dave Rafter on the Seven Network dramedy series Packed to the Rafters, which is currently in its second season. An accomplished theatre and small screen actor, Erik has performed in such stage titles as Complete Works of Shakespeare, Julius Caesar, Twelve Angry Men, and Angels in America. His movie credits include the role of Simon Mollison in the 2008 film The Black Balloon with Toni Collette, Gemma Ward, Rhys Wakefield and Luke Ford. He also appeared in Somersault with Abbie Cornish and Sam Worthington, which scored him an AFI Award. He will star in the upcoming film Accidents Happen alongside Geena Davis. Jessica Marais: Jessica Marais (born 29 January 1985) is a South African-born Australian actress who hails from Perth, Western Australia. She is best known for her role as Rachel Rafter in the television series Packed to the Rafters. Although born in South Africa, Marais and her family spent some time in Canada and New Zealand before relocating to Perth when she was nine. She attended John XXIII College for a year and then went to St Hilda's Anglican School for Girls from 1995 until her graduation in 2002. A born actor, it was at St Hilda's that Marais' love of acting was fuelled with leading roles in many school productions such as "No, No Nanette". Arguably her most notable performance was when she took on the role of the "Ichneumon Fly" in the 2002 production of Karel and Josef Capek's "The Insect Play". This allowed her to challenge type-casting and prove her extraordinary talent as an actress. Jessica attended the National Institute of Dramatic Art where she graduated in 2007. NIDA appearances included Ophelia in William Shakespeare's Hamlet and Charity in Sweet Charity. While still completing her final year she won the role in Packed to the Rafters, along with co-star and fellow NIDA graduate Hugh Sheridan. Jessica also starred in Rai Fazio's film Two Fists, One Heart with fellow Perth actor Tim Minchin and Daniel Amalm which was released in March 2009.. Jessica recently guest starred in an episode of the new American series Legend of the Seeker filmed in Auckland New Zealand playing the role of Denna, the episode aired on the 10th January 2009. She has since filmed two more episodes. On Sunday May 3, 2009, Marais won the Silver Logie for "Most Popular New Female Talent" and the prestigious Graham Kennedy Award for "Most Outstanding New Talent" at the Logie Awards of 2009 for her performance in Australian TV Drama Packed to the Rafters. Hugh Sheridan: Sheridan attended the National Institute of Dramatic Art and while still completing his final year won his role in Packed to the Rafters, along with co-star Jessica Marais. His sister is Zoe Sheridan, radio announcer and television presenter on children's game show Challenger and daytime chat show The Catch-Up. Hugh studied at the Victorian College of the Arts and The Australian Ballet School. He left the ABS when he was accepted into the prestigious Bachelor of Dramatic Art course at NIDA. While he was there he performed in The Lost Echo with The Sydney Theatre Company. In 2007, Hugh was awarded the Adel Koh Memorial Scholarship by The State Theatre of South Australia to study acting in New York. In his youth he sang with State Opera Australia, played football for St Ignatius and studied drama at Unley Youth Theatre, in short an all rounder. Hugh was one of the many stars who performed at Sydney's Carols in the Domain on 20 December 2008. Hugh sung "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas". On Sunday May 3, 2009, Sheridan won an Australian TV Week Logie Award Silver Logie for Most Popular New Male talent, due to his performance on Channel 7's Packed to the Rafters. In June he performed his own one man show "Newley Discovered" on the Adelaide Festival Theatre Stage to packed houses and rave reviews. Hugh is an active Ambassador of Jeans for Genes, Camp Quality and The Port Adelaide Football Club. On Monday August 31, 2009, it was announced that Hugh Sheridan had signed a record deal with Sony Music Entertainment. Hugh made his debut performance of his first single ‘Just Can’t Throw Us Away’ on Seven’s "Dancing With the Stars" grand final on Sunday September 6, 2009. The song was delivered to Australian radio at 7am on Monday September 7, and was made available in stores and online on Friday September 4. Angus McLaren: Angus McLaren (born 3 November 1988) is an Australian actor who is best known for his roles in the television series Silversun, Packed To The Rafters and H2O: Just Add Water. After appearing in a number of amateur productions for the Leongatha Lyric Theatre, as well as school productions, he made the leap to professional work with a recurring role on the ABC series Something in the Air, when he was just 12 years old. Several further TV credits followed, including the children's series Worst Best Friends (CoxKnight), The Saddle Club (Crawfords) and Fergus McPhail (Burberry), guest roles on Blue Heelers (Southern Star), Comedy Inc (Crackerjack) and a recurring role on Neighbours (Grundy). McLaren's first main cast role came in 2004 with the children's series Silversun for Beyond Simpson Le Mesurier, which aired on both the Seven Network and the ABC. His feature film debut followed in 2005 with the low budget Melbourne feature Court of Lonely Royals, directed by Rohan Michael Hoole. 2005 also saw McLaren work on Last Man Standing for Burberry Productions, and achieve a solid footing on the commercial voiceover circuit. McLaren also stars in H2O: Just Add Water and Packed to the Rafters.